community contributor

Join the Miami Herald and WLRN-Miami Herald News for a town hall on how to fix the child welfare system at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 17 at the Doral headquarters of the Herald. Learn more at MiamiHerald.com.

Planktonportal is a new online citizen science project to engage the public’s help in identifying planktonic creature images collected by an underwater robotic camera.

Plankton is the basis of our ocean ecosystem. No plankton, no life in the ocean. By understanding the mechanisms underlying plankton distribution both locally and globally, we can better assess the health of the ocean and better manage this precious environment. And now we can all do it together!

It seems like every group and organization in South Florida is working on a formula to reverse the ‘brain drain’, stop the ‘intellectual exodus’ or prevent the ‘mind migration’. With solutions that range from online resources and job boards to skills-based training and data collection on Miami’s talent pool, there is no deficiency of great ideas.

Editor's Note: This is a community contributor post. The views expressed here are those of the author and not WLRN or WLRN-Miami Herald News.

The crimes featured in a recent Sun Sentinel investigation were tragic. The newspaper found that in Florida, for every one sex offender who was committed to a sex predator treatment center, “nearly two others were released and then arrested on a sex charge.”

Gabriella Nuňez graduated near the top of her high school class. Her resume rivals that of many college graduates. She juggled rigorous courses with part-time work, a myriad of extracurricular activities and a thousand hours of community service. She held various leadership positions ranging from class president to design editor of her newspaper and she began her college career this summer with over 24 college credits under her belt.

My son went to a school that received an “A” grade from the state of Florida. During fifth grade, his last year as a public school student, his standardized test score significantly dropped. From here he went on to a private school that does not put such an emphasis on a single test.

When I arrived in Miami in the early 1970s, I never could imagine that I would end up calling this city home.

We came to Miami after a short stay in Spain. I came with my parents, Isabel and Ramon Santos, and my younger sister, Ana. Like many young children, we were excited about moving into a new place, learning a new language and making new friends.

Gabrielle Molina was a seventh grader in Queens, New York. Her friends and parents say that she was smart. She was ambitious and loved science. Her father said that she wanted to join the U.S. Air Force and then study law.

On May 23 her 15 year-old sister forced open their bedroom door and found her lifeless. Gaby hung herself. She was 12. In her suicide note she apologized to her family and said that she was bullied.

As an undergrad at Louisiana State University, I learned quickly what it means to live in a swamp. I left our college newsroom after an all-nighter working a tropical storm and found my car parked behind Tiger Stadium — filled to the stickshift with murky brown water.

In 1955, a 21-year-old Swiss woman, Margrith Lübke, traveled to North America to satisfy a childhood fantasy of living and working in New York City. She loved the glamor and enjoyed every moment. After a few months in the Big Apple, however, a fateful turn of events led her to Nassau. Fantasy became a new life in the tropics.

We all piled into the school gym wearing our new, originally designed t-shirts, made in our school colors, teal and white. The sound system was on, the bleachers were down and the photographer was set up and snapping away.

Only, this was not an average pep rally. This one was special. This one was for Ms. Susi. Jennie Susi has stage four ovarian cancer.

I resigned a position in November 2012. The income was decent, but the position I resigned was 42 miles north in Broward County. Gas and tolls cost about $600 per month. While the pay was a very good income seven years ago, a lack of raises meant it was no longer adequate. In the past few years we have seen drastic increases in home insurance cost, gas, health insurance, food, and electricity. Yet income levels have not increased to keep pace with the expenses.

Update, June 26:This post was originally published back in April of this year but we decided to rerun it in light of today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last summer, my father-in-law entered the hospital in Germany. My wife, Lu Mueller-Kaul, desperately wanted to be with him. But she was in this country on a complicated visa that forbids her from returning if she leaves. She stayed as her father suffered, cursing the unfair system.